Taxi Driver Arrested After Fatally Striking UWS Pedestrian

An 88-year-old woman was killed earlier today when a taxi cab slammed into her in Manhattan. Police have arrested and charged the taxi driver in the fatal incident.

According to the NYPD, officers responded to a 911 call around 12:40 a.m. about a pedestrian who was struck by a vehicle at West 109th Street and Columbus Avenue. When they arrived, they found the victim "unconscious and unresponsive with trauma laying on the pavement." She was taken to St. Luke's Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

(David Torres)

The police say their investigation found that the woman, Luisa Rosario, who lived on West 110th Street, "was attempting to cross West 109th St. from North to South, in the marked crosswalk with a green signal, and was struck by Vehicle #1, a 2014 Toyota, who was turning right onto West 109 St from Columbus Avenue, also with the green signal."

David Torres

The driver, Salifu Abubkar, 73, was charged with failure to yield to a pedestrian. On Friday, during a press conference about Vision Zero, Mayor Bill de Blasio noted that failure to yield tickets were at 30,000 for the year so far, three times higher than last year.